NATIONAL DRIVERS REGIONAL PRIORITIES LOCAL PRIORITIES PRACTICAL TOOLS PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT CASE STUDIES FURTHER INFORMATION

Providing decent and affordable housing

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‘Culture resides within the very concept of a sustainable community as a place where people will want to live and work, that meets their diverse needs and offers a high quality of life and good services for all.’
The Cultural Framework and Toolkit for Thames Gateway North Kent

Culture and sport play a vital role in creating places where people want to live, work and play. They impact on the physical environment and influence how individuals interact with each other. Cultural and sports facilities, activities and open spaces in new housing developments help create areas where people want to be and meet. High quality building design, open space and access to cultural and sports infrastructure make a place more desirable to live. They also make development more attractive to investors.

The growing communities in the South East will want decent and affordable housing. They will also want access to cultural and sports facilities and activities. Cultural and sports provision should be planned as an integral part of new and changing communities. Putting sport and opportunities for physical activity at the heart of the design and layout of new housing and community developments also encourages people to be active as part of their daily life and adopt healthy lifestyles.

Active Design – promoting opportunities for sport and physical activity through good design is a set of design guidelines. It aims to promote opportunities for sport and physical activity in the design and layout of development.

The guidelines are written for urban designers, master planners and the architects of new communities. They are designed to be used at the master planning stage of major new housing and mixed use developments. The aim is to create environments that provide easy access to a choice of opportunities for participation in sport and physical activity. This will help make new communities more active and healthy.

 The master planning of major new housing and mixed use development schemes has a vital role in providing easy and safe access to a choice of opportunities for cultural and sports activity. Two of the Growth Areas in the South East (Milton Keynes South Midlands and  Thames Gateway South Essex) are involved in developing and testing a  National Cultural Planning Toolkit  for spatial and cultural planners.

Creating Cultural Opportunity in Sustainable Communities is a two year project to develop and pilot a National Cultural Planning Toolkit. The Toolkit will be a web-based resource to help spatial and cultural planners:

  • assess cultural infrastructure needs
  • plan for its provision and sustainable management
  • secure funding mechanisms to deliver, including developer contributions.
It is aimed at planning and delivery organisations, local authorities, policy makers and development bodies in England.

The Toolkit is being developed and tested in two areas in the South East (Milton Keynes South Midlands and Thames Gateway South Essex) and one in the West Midlands (the Black Country Consortium). Publication and national dissemination are expected in 2008.

The project is funded by the Treasury under an Invest to Save Bid. It is being managed by a partnership that includes:

  • four Regional Cultural Consortia
  • Arts Council England
  • Black Country Consortium
  • Thames Gateway South Essex Partnership


 

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